Be it regulatory system or the education policy, one is entitled to ask the thoughts on funding at every level if the country's educational scenario is to take an upswing
Some days ago, a news item was allowed to creep into the newspapers about how shortage of funds has affected recruitment even in better branded Government educational institutions. As always, funds are a matter of priority and allocations. In the last few years, the number of governmental entertainments in high-flying and super-expensive outlets has gone up by leaps and bound. There is little shortage of fund there. There are other examples, including expenses on ‘goodwill visits' and ‘study tours' of the high and mighty. There is plenty of money floating around — the question is of acceptability of the expenditure head.
It is one of the unfortunate facts of life that irrespective of rhetoric, funds for education are almost always at the bottom of the pyramid of priorities. This is understandable because the damage, which paucity of funds does to the social and national fabric, is not immediately or dramatically visible. Management is the art of playing the ball where it is. Hence, without regrets, one needs to get on with the act of how to find more funds for education. It is here where contradictions, enigmas and seemingly irreconcilable positions emerge.
There are parts of education system where there is clearly no paucity of funds. Consider the fees that people are willing to find and pay to send their children to private schools. Even with this kind of a bill, there is no school which is running short of candidates or applicants. In a way, this is a good thing because it shows that India is a education conscious society. The other truth is that private schools are seen as gateways to influence and power. Hence, the perception that they aid social mobility and, therefore, people are rushing to it.
Similarly, for the post school sector, there is no dearth of people vying to send their children abroad to institutions who charge fancy fees from immigrant students and provide subsidy to their own. Similarly, there are some fancy institutions in the country, especially in the domain of medicine, management, engineering, where there is no paucity of aspirants vying with richly endowed pockets. Thus, there is no obvious paucity of funds for education. The so-called shortage is for the higher education segment dealing with governmental funding and amenable in Government regulations. For them, being in the domain of public systems is both a challenge and a situation with limited common sense options, including rise of fees. It may not be completely possible in the limitations of space here to explore this proposition fully.
However, one thing is clear: The system provides no succour to the nagging thought that one can barely raise adequate money within the broad regulatory features that prevail. Regulators themselves need to recognise what it takes to reach the breakeven of education, which could earn a reasonable accreditation of, say, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council.
The system needs to be geared to answer the questions. last few years have seen several attempts to draft an education policy. They are all clearly well-intentioned, even though one is not quite sure how well informed the decisions systems have been in constituting these bodies. Very senior bureaucrats and even space scientists have been roped in at the effort.
Whereas other reports come in very quickly, the one on education policy consumes so much time that they almost get lost in the memory lane. From 1985 to today, these countless committees, headed by venerable gentlemen, are really a fit subject for a PhD dissertation. That will, at least, help one to understand what led them to be composed the way they were. How long did they take and how did they go about their work and indeed, what happened to their final reportIJ There were indeed other committees on matters related to education, besides those meant to deal with ‘policy'.
Be it funding, admissions, regulatory system of education, or the education policy, one is entitled to ask what are the thoughts on education funding at every level. Else, the so-called ideological wars will keep taking up the limelight and the actual process of education will only coast along.
(The writer is a well-known management consultant)